The Club Car to close in January, then reopen as part of North Avenue Market

The Club Car, a popular LGBTQ+ bar in Station North, will close its doors in January to renovate a new space and reopen as part of the historic North Avenue Market.

The owners, Darius K. McKeiver and Ryan Haase, made the announcement Thursday afternoon on social media, telling patrons that the collaboration with the market and Central Baltimore Partnership will “help elevate our dreams of what a queer bar can be.”

As part of the collaboration, the owners of The Club Car said they signed a 10-year lease, keeping the business in Station North for years to come.

“We are thrilled to be an integral part of the newly designed and designated North Avenue Market,” Haase and McKeiver said in an email to The Banner on Saturday, adding that the collaboration will help “create a vibrant, safe, and creative hub in the Station North Arts District” for Baltimore’s LGBTQ+ community.

While it’s not clear when the bar will reopen after January, the owners said in a statement that they are hoping to set up a pop-up cocktail bar in The Parkway Theatre across the street from their current location at 12 West North Ave.

The new spot will remain relatively in the same area as the current one about 50 to 100 feet to the left of the current location, the owners said in their statement.

The 3-year-old venue is one of Baltimore’s few remaining bars for the LGBTQ+ community. It hosts an array of events, including art markets, queer history lessons and lots of dance parties. The Club Car’s current space sits next to the North Avenue Market, a once-booming marketplace built in 1928 that is undergoing redevelopment and a revival in the arts district.

Renderings and blueprints shared in the post showed the new venue will have a large dance floor, chandeliers, train car-themed bathrooms and a cocktail bar that will be called “THE CABOOSE.”

“Whether you’re itching to let loose on the dance floor, catching our newest gallery exhibition, or sipping a delicious cocktail in an intimate setting with loved ones; The Club Car is gearing up to provide you your perfect night out!” the post said.

The Club Car expansion comes at a time when LGBTQ+ bars around the city have started to dwindle in number. Baltimore’s oldest continually operating gay bar, Leon’s, shut down temporarily this summer after its owner, Ron Singer, passed away. The bar’s heirs hope to reopen it soon.